Ways to Save Fresh Herbs

This is an easy, budget friendly way to save those late season herbs so you can enjoy them all year long. All you need to learn how to save fresh herbs is your herb of choice, olive oil, an ice cube tray and a freezer.

The Beauty of Using Fresh Herbs

Herbs are an amazing part of Mediterranean diet inspired cooking. They are a great way to add a lot of flavor to otherwise ordinary ingredients and dishes. We use them often in all kinds of dishes, sauces, and dressings.

Herbs are also key to being able to reduce the need for excess salt in many recipes by using fresh herbs for flavor instead.

Reducing Food Waste and Cost

We are lucky that we have the space for an herb garden at home. There are many people that don’t have the space or ability to have a garden, so they have to rely on purchasing herbs for recipes.

There are a lot of herbs that we don’t grown, simply because we don’t use them enough to need an entire plant or we just haven’t had any luck with them in the garden. I’m talking about you cilantro!

However, I hate that they often get wasted, especially when you have to buy a whole bunch at a time. Recipes tend to call for 1/4 cup or even just 1 tablespoon of herbs, so unless you meal plan like a boss, the rest of the bunch gets wasted.

Our garden is also full of sage, mint, rosemary and basil right now but once the weather starts to cool, the plants start to go dormant for the winter.

This is an easy way to save those leftover fresh herbs for later use.

Freezing Fresh Herbs in Oil

Did you know that you can save herbs by freezing them in olive oil? It’s an easy process that provides you with frozen herbs you can use all year long.

How to Freeze Fresh Herbs

You’ll want to start by chopping your fresh herbs (keep them separate for freezing though, unless you want to create herb mixtures). Since we typically cook with recipes that call for pretty well chopped herbs, that’s how we prepared them.

Once you have your chopped herbs, simply place about 1 tablespoon of each herb into the compartment of an ice cube tray. Cover with about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, just enough so that the entire herbs are covered.

Cover your ice cube tray and place in freezer to set. Once the cubes are fully frozen, you can remove them and place them in a sealable container and store them in the freezer. Be sure to label which herbs are in each container.

Note – We’ve found through trial and error that not all herbs freeze well. Soft herbs like dill and parsley don’t always stand up to the cold temperature as well as others. Heartier herbs like rosemary, oregano, sage, and thyme we’ve had much more success with.

How to Use Frozen Herbs

We find these frozen herb cubes best for things like –

• Sautéing chicken, fish, steak or vegetables
  • simply add 1-2 cubes to the pan while sautéing
• Use when making pasta sauce
  • frozen basil or oregano work great in this homemade spaghetti sauce recipe
  • throw 1-2 cubes of frozen oregano or basil into the pan when combining cooked pasta, sun dried tomatoes, chopped olives, garlic, and red pepper flakes for a delicious pasta dish
• Adding to marinades for chicken, fish or veggies
  • Simply combine a few cubes of frozen herbs (rosemary and thyme are a great combination), some garlic, a squeeze of lemon and some raw chicken and place in fridge to marinade. Grill, bake or roast when ready for a flavorful dish.
• Making pesto
• Adding to homemade salad dressings
• Using in soups and stews
• Tossing into the Instant Pot when making roasted chicken

Since you freezer the herbs in tablespoon amounts, you can judge how much to add to a recipe based on what you are making.

Other Great Ways to Save Herbs

There are so many other great ways to store and save those fresh herbs. A few of our favorites include –

Making a big batch of this Homemade Basil Pesto and then storing in the freezer.

Adding leftover herbs to a “vegetable scrap” bag in the freezer to make a delicious pot of this Homemade Vegetable Broth.

We’ve never personally tried drying our herbs but this Complete Guide to Drying Herbs seems really detailed and easy to follow.

Print Pin

Frozen Herbs in Olive Oil

Sharing an easy, Mediterranean diet inspired trick to save fresh herbs for later use. Great if you're looking to reduce food waste.

Course spice

Cuisine Mediterranean

Keyword herb

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Freezing Time 2 hours hours

Author Brynn McDowell, RDN at The Domestic Dietitian

Ingredients

• 10-12 tbsp Herb of Choice, chopped (see notes below on tips)
• 10-12 tbsp Olive Oil

Instructions

• Chop your desired herbs and place apprixmately 1 tablespoon of herb into the compartment of an ice cube tray
• Cover each compartment with 1-2 tbsp olive oil, just enough so entire herb is covered
• Cover ice cube tray and place in freezer to set. Make sure ice cube tray is laying flat
• Remove each cube and place in sealable container and store in freezer
• Remember to write name of each herb on container so you can identify later on

Notes

Softer herbs like parsley and dill don’t really freeze well. Heartier herbs like oregano, thyme, sage and rosemary do well. 

 

Feel free to make herb combinations (thyme and rosemary is a good one) by placing 1/2 tbsp of each into the same ice cube tray. Just remember to mark what type of herb is in each compartment for easy identification later on.